CA Azur 840E preamp or Vincent SA-T8 for MC402 ?

What's the rest of your system? Do you already have a preamp? If you can run direct,it's probably better to run direct than to put a mediocre preamp in the system. Maybe something else needs upgrading, probably speakers. At entry level hifi, the speakers are more important than anything else, followed by power amp.

Hi there,

The main pieces are:

. Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand,
. McIntosh 402,
. Oppo BDP-95.

The current "pre-amp" is an Onkyo TX-SR875 that i am in the process of replacing.
So far I have tried connecting the Oppo directly to the MC420 (tried balanced and RCA), and also using the Onkyo as the preamp. I also used an Emotiva XPA-5 as the amp instead of the MC402 for testing purposes. The best results are the Oppo --> MC402, but there is still too much of 'ssss' to my taste.
I have changed interconnects also. Either the MC402 is not delivering, or i am missing a piece, which i am thinking (hoping) is the preamp. Or is it that the MC402 is supposed to be putting out this "ssss" sound ?

Any help/input is welcome, as i am a bit at a loss.

Thanks in advance.

If no one has used the CA or Vincent, could anyone suggest a good preamp in the $2500 range for the mc402 ? At this point I am on to both tube and SS. I forgot to mention that HT bypass would be a plus.
thanks

I've a Vincent SA-T8 that I bought from a fellow audiogoner. This has been upgraded by upgrade company and I use NOS tubes that I got from the original owner. YMMV, but in my system pairing with a PMC AML-1 speaker and W4S Dac-2, vincent sa-t8 brings out the magic in my system. The preamp totally changed the tonal character in a subtle and obvious way. I don't think I can ever go back. They are fully balanced and comes with remote. I'm not sure whether a preamp change will solve your hissing problem though.

Thank you for your reply Radiohead99.
My hearing may be the culprit for the "ssss" sounds being too pronounced. I was hoping a tube preamp would mellow out the MC402 a bit, and the SA-T8 in on top of my list. Have you ever have replaced tubes since the upgrade ? If so was the full process fairly painless (from finding the tubes to the installing) ?
As the Vincent does not seem to have a HT bypass I am still on the lookout for potential others for a bit before making the final decision. It could be frustrating a bit though, as the choices seem to be ridiculously expensive in most cases.
Thanks

Your price range, give or take a few bucks, might fetch you a nice used McIntosh C220 preamp. I own this preamp, and like it a lot. $80 worth of Mullard reissue 12AX7 tubes brought the sonics up a big notch, too. Check this site, and also reliable used McIntosh sellers, like Audio Classics (where I bought mine from Ryan - great customer service!). I have to think the C220 and the MC402 would be a good pairing.

I've never listened to tube preamps, but based on the searches I've run, and based on the replies so far it seems a tube preamp is the better approach. Even if I could listen to some of them in a demo room I think the difficulty would be that in the end it may still not be representative of the sound I would get within my system.
The way i described the "hissing" may not be accurate, but "dryness" does come to mind. I will continue researching in the tube section for a bit.